Top 20% of the 1980s (Based on RT Popcorn), a list by Adam McGready

8.7

/11439/

81

/278/

82

/214/

4.5

/16063/

100

/37/

97

/117/

99

/4/

4.0

age 15+

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

86

8.9

/380521/

85

/14257/

82

/2232/

89

/131/

92

84

/16/

age 14+

A stand-up comedian and his three offbeat friends weather the pitfalls and payoffs of life in New York City in the '90s. It's a show about nothing.

87

86

8.7

/29254/

Trakt

79

/412/

79

/202/

4.2

/9434/

98

/43/

94

age 14+

A pair of longtime friends and former Texas Rangers crave one last adventure before hanging-up their spurs. After stealing over a thousand head of cattle from rustlers south of the border, they recruit an unlikely crew of hands to drive the herd 3,000 miles north to the grasslands of Montana.

90

8.7

/23683/

85

/1120/

83

/344/

4.7

/172044/

100

/71/

97

/571/

94

/15/

3.5

A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.

90

8.2

/149711/

80

/2542/

80

/1725/

4.5

/226531/

96

/94/

95

/2188/

97

/21/

4.0

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

85

8.6

/27483/

82

/644/

76

/215/

87

/69/

98

81

/6/

age 13+

A stranded spaceship pilot captured by mad scientists survives a blitz of cheesy B movies by riffing on them with his funny robot pals.

90

8.5

/375114/

85

/9884/

84

/6279/

4.5

/1023250/

100

/50/

95

/5486/

94

/16/

MAL

8.5

/449120/

4.0

age 15+

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

85

8.3

/24248/

81

/905/

78

/410/

91

/32/

96

In this cult parody of cop dramas, replete with farce and sight gags, Lieutenant Frank Drebin and his fellow officers from Police Squad bungle their way though crime investigations.

83

8.0

/43383/

84

/2698/

79

/521/

85

/29/

89

Black Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders throughout British history, from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of the First World War.

89

8.7

/1486712/

86

/41653/

83

/17967/

4.4

/1986377/

93

/174/

97

/42485/

82

/25/

4.0

age 9+

The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.

89

8.1

/70863/

77

/952/

77

/847/

4.4

/70186/

100

/46/

94

/1018/

100

/8/

4.0

age 17+

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

82

8.0

/67247/

78

/2335/

76

/635/

87

/94/

95

81

/17/

age 13+

The story about a blue-collar Boston bar run by former sports star Sam Malone and the quirky and wonderful people who worked and drank there.

89

8.3

/119763/

82

/2946/

82

/1726/

4.6

/408767/

90

/60/

95

/929/

4.0

age 16+

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

82

7.5

/21371/

73

/637/

73

/393/

100

/7/

91

age 7+

When Adam, Prince of the planet Eternia, raises his magic sword he transforms into He-Man (the most powerful man in the universe). With his allies and friends, he battles the evil Skeletor and his minions to protect the secrets of Castle Greyskull.

88

8.4

/1100906/

82

/29867/

79

/13299/

4.2

/1167108/

94

/157/

96

/26529/

86

/17/

4.0

age 11+

When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.

81

8.7

/147770/

86

/9542/

83

/1670/

92

/77/

90

51

/8/

age 10+

Follow the intergalactic adventures of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his loyal crew aboard the all-new USS Enterprise NCC-1701D, as they explore new worlds.

80

8.1

/17600/

77

/524/

76

/223/

3.7

/3376/

79

/39/

91

age 14+

An English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in complex political games in feudal Japan.

87

8.1

/405908/

78

/5821/

79

/4610/

4.2

/521776/

92

/151/

93

/7166/

90

/28/

4.0

age 17+

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

84

78

8.2

/11639/

76

/237/

76

/114/

97

/56/

88

A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

87

7.9

/122451/

78

/3479/

77

/1922/

4.4

/477967/

92

/150/

89

/3366/

93

/26/

4.0

age 16+

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

78

8.0

/29236/

78

/922/

80

/946/

82

/39/

92

56

/9/

Cadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and fun based on the classic E.C. Comics tales from back in the day. So shamble up to the bar and pick your poison. Will it be an insane Santa on a personal slay ride? Honeymooners out to fulfill the "til death do we part" vow ASAP?

87

8.4

/285608/

82

/4641/

81

/2406/

4.3

/101514/

98

/55/

96

/2946/

85

/16/

age 15+

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

77

7.6

/33333/

75

/802/

74

/479/

72

/48/

90

The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.

87

8.5

/1431172/

85

/47175/

83

/21273/

4.2

/2405392/

92

/118/

95

/40116/

88

/27/

3.5

age 10+

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

87

7.9

/26090/

80

/983/

78

/407/

4.3

/140198/

100

/58/

93

/725/

87

/18/

4.0

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.

77

7.6

/26631/

75

/657/

75

/378/

89

/52/

90

62

/20/

age 11+

After being duped and going bankrupt, model Maddie is convinced by David to become a partner in a detective agency. Together they solve various cases, while getting comfortable with each other.

81

71

8.5

/8604/

77

/114/

79

/69/

4.2

/3153/

83

/6/

83

Befriended by aristocrat Sebastian Flyte, Oxford student Charles Ryder finds that the power and privilege experienced by the family is seductive. On a visit to the ancestral home, Brideshead, he falls in love with his friend's sister, Julia. However, as his ties to the Flytes deepen, Ryder finds himself at odds with their strong Roman Catholicism.

87

8.1

/137910/

80

/3092/

81

/2115/

4.4

/622721/

95

/58/

93

/1253/

81

/13/

4.0

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

87

8.5

/313867/

84

/4805/

84

/4690/

4.5

/417211/

90

/84/

96

/5148/

80

/21/

3.5

age 14+

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

75

70

7.7

/10035/

71

/229/

73

/149/

3.5

/2122/

69

/29/

88

A small group of human resistance fighters fight a desperate guerilla war against the genocidal extra-terrestrials who dominate Earth.

87

8.4

/463299/

81

/7930/

80

/4589/

4.3

/476825/

90

/159/

95

/7757/

87

/28/

4.0

age 15+

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

70

7.3

/15297/

73

/1009/

70

/171/

58

/26/

87

60

/36/

Once again, Earth is the battleground. But now the aliens whose human guise hides their true reptilian natures are wiser. They believe the secret to their survival on Earth lies in the DNA of the newly born half-human, half-spaceling Starchild. But that's something the world's Resistance Fighters cannot allow.

87

8.1

/424034/

82

/16638/

80

/8543/

4.2

/1748779/

94

/63/

94

/7768/

87

/16/

MAL

8.2

/745549/

4.0

age 5+

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

78

64

6.8

/2219/

67

/112/

73

/72/

100

/5/

86

The web-slinging superhero battles crime in New York City.

76

64

7.5

/5274/

67

/40/

60

/55/

100

/16/

80

Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night with Conan O'Brien then filled the time slot. As of March 2, 2009, the slot has been filled by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It will be filled by Seth Meyers in the spring of 2014, after Fallon becomes host of The Tonight Show.

86

7.9

/82994/

78

/1476/

78

/1452/

4.3

/173331/

95

/65/

93

/2055/

79

/9/

4.0

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

67

62

6.9

/5814/

69

/195/

69

/127/

43

/7/

100

53

/8/

Detective Matthew Sikes, a Los Angeles police officer reluctantly works with "Newcomer" alien George Francisco. Sikes also has an 'on again off again' flirtation with a female Newcomer, Cathy Frankel.

86

8.0

/38189/

78

/673/

75

/704/

4.2

/49189/

97

/36/

93

/731/

88

/18/

4.0

age 12+

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

86

8.1

/3259/

77

/155/

74

/73/

4.1

/4308/

100

/13/

92

/72/

4.0

Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.

74

58

7.4

/1874/

62

/35/

64

/33/

100

/5/

80

MAL

6.9

/7957/

11-year-old Kenichi Mitsuba is an average kid who goes to secondary school and struggles with his studies, he is very stubborn and is very lazy and therefore always ends up frustrating his parents and teacher. He loves to find an easy way of things. He befriends Hattori Kanzo, a ninja from the Iga Clan, and he becomes part of the Mitsuba family along with his brother, Shinzo and his ninja dog, Shishimaru. Hattori helps Kenichi with his problems, and constantly keeps an eye on him, as a good friend. The main antagonist Kemumaki, a Koga ninja and his ninja cat, Kagechiyo always troubles Kenichi, mainly because of their feud over one girl, Yumeko. Kenichi asks Hattori to take revenge as a recurring storyline in many episodes. Although Hattori is a good friend, Kenichi sometimes fights with Hattori due to misunderstandings created by Kemumaki. Sometimes Jippou, Togejirou and Tsubame help him.

64

53

4.5

/2512/

45

/31/

54

/48/

92

/45/

87

A morning talk show with A-list celebrity guests, top-notch performances and one-of-a-kind segments that are unrivaled on daytime television, plus spontaneous, hilarious and unpredictable talk.

86

7.9

/10492/

79

/308/

79

/226/

4.2

/46599/

94

/17/

93

/134/

4.0

10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

70

42

6.1

/236/

45

/9/

60

/11/

100

/15/

86

A daily BBC Television current affairs programme which specialises in analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians.

86

8.1

/22189/

81

/567/

79

/416/

4.4

/113171/

100

/11/

91

/86/

An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.

86

7.8

/84391/

76

/1378/

75

/985/

3.9

/61380/

98

/45/

92

/1439/

97

/18/

4.0

age 16+

No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.

86

7.9

/158999/

76

/4127/

74

/1562/

3.9

/211084/

98

/175/

92

/7950/

92

/30/

4.0

age 14+

"This Is Spinal Tap" shines a light on the self-contained universe of a metal band struggling to get back on the charts, including everything from its complicated history of ups and downs, gold albums, name changes and undersold concert dates, along with the full host of requisite groupies, promoters, hangers-on and historians, sessions, release events and those special behind-the-scenes moments that keep it all real.

86

8.1

/467360/

79

/8887/

77

/4907/

4.0

/316664/

89

/122/

93

/9634/

92

/16/

4.0

age 17+

As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

85

8.4

/832850/

82

/24887/

79

/10522/

4.1

/839877/

94

/143/

94

/22899/

84

/23/